Motorcyclists ride to help Baton Rouge police heal

LAFAYETTE, La. — A few bikers and cops became emotional following a law enforcement support ride in which hundreds of motorcyclists honored Baton Rouge area officers for their recent service and sacrifices.

Sgt. Marc DeArmond, a 20-year employee of the Ascension Parish Sheriff's Office, was just one of many whom bikers shook hands with and embraced following the event, which ended at the Baton Rouge Police Department.

“It just feels great that the public is supporting us and that they’re coming together during this trying time for our city,” DeArmond, who is white, said. “It’s a tough time, but everybody is coming together and working hard to make sure that we take care of the community that takes care of us.”

Local motorcycle enthusiast Everett Landry organized the ride as a show of support for law enforcement and a way to honor those officers lost in the recent attacks.

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Two Baton Rouge officers and a deputy will be laid to rest this week after they were killed in an ambush investigators are still trying to piece together. A fourth victim remains in critical condition from gunshot wounds to his head and stomach.

Landry, who is white, served as a Donaldsonville police officer and an Ascension Parish sheriff’s deputy in the 1980s and ‘90s.

“It hit close to home because I still have deep connections to law enforcement,” Landry said. “I felt this was the least I could do, come together with my brothers to show a force of unity for the law enforcement community, bring the biker community a little closer together and hopefully bring the nation a little closer together.”

The attack on Baton Rouge law enforcement comes on the heels of the July 7 attack on officers in Dallas, the deadliest day for law enforcement since Sept. 11, 2001.

Lt. Garrick Nelson, who is black, smiled as he watched bikers ride into the Baton Rouge police parking lot in his honor.

Nelson has worked for the Baton Rouge Police Department for 24 years, and he’s spent 17 of those years working in the traffic division on a motorcycle himself.

“It’s been a really rough couple of weeks, especially the last couple of days,” Nelson said. “And this is a lot of good support. This will be a lot of help in our healing process. We really do need this.”

After traveling about a mile from a local bowling alley parking lot to the police headquarters, the group of bikers, law enforcement and others in the community gathered for a short ceremony.

Michael Miller, a white biking enthusiast from Prairieville, calls the relationship between the motorcycling community and local law enforcement "close knit."

Chris Turner, a black biker from Baton Rouge, agrees.

"We all know each other. That's why you have this," Turner said. "We're just here to support our guys in blue. All this violence has to stop. We need to show unity."